Maharashtra BJP chief says Shivaji developed 'Hindu vote bank', Sena invokes founder Thackeray

BJP's Maharashtra unit president Chandrakant Patil has claimed that warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and several 'sant-mahants' (saints and seers) developed the "Hindu vote bank", and late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leader L K Advani, PM Narendra Modi and other leaders of the party took it to the top.

The statement evoked a sharp response from the Shiv Sena with party MP Sanjay Raut saying that it was Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray who first put forth the concept of the Hindu vote bank in the country.

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Patil was speaking to reporters here on Tuesday following the BJP's victory in four out of the six seats in the state Legislative Council polls. BJP candidate and former state energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule won the Nagpur seat.

Replying to a question whether other BJP leaders, who were denied tickets during the last Assembly elections, would also get justice like Bawankule, Patil said, "It is wrong for someone to say that his or her (poll) ticket has been cut. That ticket belongs to the party, that vote bank also belongs to the party. The ticket is given on the basis of work." "The development of a vote bank dates back to sant-mahants and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. They developed the Hindu vote bank, and in the recent times, the likes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and others took it to the top," he claimed.

Stating that PM Modi was restoring the glory of ancient temples that were destroyed in the past, Patil said, "The common Hindu voters today feel that Modi is the real heir of their vote bank." The state BJP chief added that the person who gets a ticket in BJP also gets that vote bank.

"It is the candidate's image and works that compliment that vote bank. In a nutshell, the vote bank and the ticket both belong to the party. But it is a human tendency to feel sad. Even Bawankule felt so (when he was denied ticket during the Assembly election), but the family digested that thing and today he got the results," he said.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet, the former Maharashtra minister said, adding, "The same thing has happened in the case with Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Munde, who got the party's responsibilities at the national level." Reacting to Patil's remarks, Raut told a Marathi news channel on Wednesday that although he himself does not have any idea whether the Hindu vote bank was developed by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or not, it was a fact that he created the first 'Hindavi Swarajya' in the country.

"It was Balasaheb Thackeray, and before him Veer Savarkar, who inculcated the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and that is why people of the country called Thackeray 'Hindu hriday samrat' (emperor of Hindu hearts)." "Balasaheb once told (late BJP leader) Pramod Mahajan that the way he made Marathi manoos cast their vote as Marathi, he will make Hindus in the country cast their vote as Hindus and he brought his words into reality after 1992. It was the Shiv Sena that first contested the election on Hindu card," Raut said.

It was Thackeray who put forth the concept that there is a Hindu vote bank in the country. When Babri Masjid was being demolished, those who now talk about Hindu vote bank, ran away and it was Shiv Sena that stood strong, the Sena leader claimed.

"Our Hindutva is not escapist. We stand strong, we fight and we win. Our Hindutva is not confined to politics, elections or limited to temples, but it is linked to making basic necessities available to the people," he said.